Judge Slaps Down Recording Industry In Copyright Suit
In the case, Atlantic v. Howell, the RIAA is claiming that any sound recording that is ripped onto a computer and stored in a shared folder is an un authorized use. The RIAA does not consider the act of ripping (or copying) the recording onto a computer an infraction. Placing those recordings into a shared folder, however, makes them accessible to others online who may be using a peer-to-peer (p2p) program. In this case, the defendants were said to be found by the recording companies' private investigator, MediaSentry, to be using the KaZaA file-sharing sharing service.
The judge denied the RIAA's motion for a summary judgment. In a 17-page decision, he rejected the idea that putting the materials on a shared folder violated copyright law, noting, "unless a copy of the work changes hands in one of the designated ways, a "distribution" has not taken place."
In addition, the judge also found that the RIAA failed to prove that the defendant was the same person who actually put the files in a shared files folder.